Apparatus for treatment of staple fiber



Dec. 9;, 1941. v E. BAUER ETAL 2,265,795

APPARATUS FOR TREATMENT OF STAPLE FIBER Filed Nov. 27, ,1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Hams Eye/me yer Dec. .9, 1941. E. BAUER ETAL 2,265,795 APPARATUS FOR TREATMENT OF STAPLE FIBER Filed Nov. 2'7, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 frw/xz Bauer,

A mzs Tegef/neyer a fl Patented Dec. 9, 1941 STATES APPARATUS- FOR TREATMENT or STAPLE" FIBER el a e Application November. 27, 1936; .Serial No. 11.3;024. In Germany November 29;,1-935 3 Claims.

The-present invention, relates: to the manufacture .of. yam of. artificial: origin,. but, primarily is concerned (with; the; washing and: afteretreatment of freshly spun. artificial silk out: up into staple fibers.

Insthe manufacture: of stapl fibers from artificial silk; a, large. number? ofi'thread's extruded through. spinnerettesare: usually collectedinto rope-like skeins, of; very. high denier 'which in this,;form are; out up into smallspieces of'thread. The staplefibersqthus:obtainedrare thenwashed; after-treated: and dried; These wet treatments wereshitherto carriedn utg inalarge vats, and since unite. the :present; the artificial silk yarnwas; al.- W ys: cutupx into very short: pieces; these. vats served the-purpose v rywella However; th'eindustry nowidemand'szstaple fibershaving. a length of 10, 12, 15-andimorecentimeters; so. that considerable difiiculties; have arisen in theemploymentor the above mentioned vats. Owing; to the; greater: length of the fibelsit was foundzthat the material became matted duringthewettreating. process, resulting; in harmful injuries. in the fibers.

It; istherefore, anobj ect of the-:present: invention; tov devise: an apparatus. which. can. be; satisfactorily employed. for. the afteretreatment. of long. sized staple fibers;

Another obiectof'the. present invention lies in theifact. that; with the; new; apparatus the staple fiber can be after-treated ina continuous operation;

These and other objects will in part become obvious and-will infpart be pointed out in the following specification and appended claims when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.

In accordance with the present invention the staple fibers are spread out and uniformly distributed into a continuous band-like fleece. The latter is then deposited upon an endless perforated conveyor belt. The different after-treating baths, such as desulphurization bath, bleaching bath, reviving bath, and the like are sprayed upon the staple fibers by means of numerous nozzles as they are transported by the conveyor belt. A number of conveyor belts are usually arranged in series so that the various after treatments can be carried out individually. Press rollers through which the fleece passes are positioned between adjacent conveyor belts, and are employed to remove from the fibers excessive treating liquid used in the preceding bath.

The conveyor belts are sloped in the direction of travel of the fleece, thus providing space for the positioning of the press rollers between adjacent conveyor. belts, while on theother handthe treating liquid is allowedto flow backwardly; on. the. slanting surfaceof the conveyor belts: The.- liquid pressed from' the staplefiber fleece may be collected in troughs. arranged-2 below the press rollers; In order to facilltatethe flowoff' of the liquid from the press rollers, the lower roller. may'belprovided with aminclihed; endless rubber belt passing around a. third roller and forming an .imperforate' slanting surface on whichthe. liquid may flow back into the collectingmeans; v

The difierent parts of'the machine should be constructedfrom material? which, cannot be corroded by thev chemicals .used for the various treating: baths. It was. found" that: acid-proof? steel; wire gauze may be best. used asconveyor belts. The press rollers may be made of'iron covered; with rubber; while. the frame of the machine may be protected against chemicals:- by means '01? lead lining; rubber coating anal thelike.

The spraying system may consist of a series of pipelines provided with fine spraying holes andzis; positioned. a. short. distance aboveiand/or: below' the conveyor belts. carrying. the staple;

fiberfleece, or. any other suitablev device may be used forspraying liquid in a..finely divided for-m upon..the. fleece. Troughs for thecollection of theused liquid:areaarranged below the conveyorbelts. These troughs may be provided withpipelines. andpumpsin order that the waste-liquid may be.used again for. after-treating purposes.

It. isofimportance that. the freshlycutup' staplefi'bers which still". contain chemicals fromthe precipitating. bath are subjected to the after. treating process intheform of a uniformly-dis tributed fleece while being transported by the conveyor belts. In order to prepare the staple fibers accordingly, they are first passed through a chute-like chamber in which water or any other liquid is sprayed from numerous holes upon the fibers from above and below while the fibers automatically advance along a surface sloped in the direction of travel of the fibers. Because the liquid is forced upon the staple fibers under pressure, the freshly cut staple fibers are dispersed and a uniform fleece is formed. The chamber in which this treatment takes place is of chute-like shape, and since the side walls of this chamber can be changed with respect to their distance from each other, it is possible to vary the width and consequently the thickness of the staple fiber fleece. The possibility of varying the width and thickness of the fleece is very important because it was found that some aftertreating processes are more efiiciently carried out on a thin fiber fleece and others on a thick fiber fieece.

Similar treating chambers may also be arranged between adjacent conveyor belts, i. e., between different after-treating baths, in order to improve the efficiency of the various baths because of the possibility of varying the width or thickness of the fiber fleece.

In the drawings in which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic longitudinal cross tion of the new machine, and

Fig. 2 is a detailed vertical section of the special treating chamber.

Like numerals of reference refer to like parts. I indicates the perforated conveyor belt Which is loaded with freshly cut staple fibers 1 and which feeds them to the chute-like treating and preliminary washing chamber 2 shown in Fig. 2. They enter the latter at the upper end 3 and after being sprayed with liquid from above and below emerge in the form of a well distributed fleece through the outlet 4. The fiber fleece is now fed to the first conveyor belt 5 which transports it parallel with and below the spraying devices 6, 6a, and 61). At the end of the first conveyor belt the fleece 1 is passed through two press rollers 8 and 9 in order to extract excessive liquid therefrom which was used in the first bath. Most of the liquid so extracted flows into the receiving device 10. The fiber fleece is now led to the second conveyor belt and is treated by means of the spraying devices l2, I211, I217. At

the end of the second conveyor belt ll an expressing device is arranged which makes it possible to carefully separate the liquid extracted by the rollers from that used in the subsequent bath; The two press rollers I3 and M are therefore arranged in a more vertical position and the lower roller I4 is joined to a third roller 25 by means of an endless rubber belt I5. The latter is provided to lead the liquid into the receiving device 16. The fiber fleece is then passed to the'third conveyor belt I! in order to be subjected to further after-treatments. Suitable troughs I8, Illa, l8b, l9 and Mia are positioned below the different conveyor belts for the collection of liquid dripping from the latter. These troughs may either comprise one trough for each conveyor belt as in 20, or they may be divided into individual troughs for each spraying device.

As shown in Fig. 1, spraying devices 26, 26a, and 2612 similar in all respects to those des-ig nated 6, 5a, and 61) may be disposed in corresponding positions below the upper run of the perforated first conveyor belt 5.

Fig. 2 shows the device in which the freshly cut staple fibers are formed into a uniformly distributed fleece. By means of the pipe lines 2| and 22 treating liquid is forced through the nozzles 23 and 24. The latter are so arranged that the nozzles of one side are not in line with those of the other side, thus it is assured that the staple fibers are sprayed uniformly from all sides.

The open-ended treating chamber 2 is tapered from above to below, and the width of the lower outlet 4 can be changed by means of shifting the side walls of the treating chamber. It also appears advisable to position the nozzles in a direction whereby the liquid will advance the staple fibers forwardly as the fieece is built up.

Having now described the invention as required by the patent statutes, what is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for use in the after-treatment of staple fiber, a forming chute adapted to receive staple fibers, means to vary the width of the outlet end of said chute, and means to uniformly distribute the staple fibres in said chute, said distributing means comprising a plurality of nozzles arranged on opposite faces of the chute and in staggered relationship to each other and adapted to spray liquid under pressure simultaneously from below and above against the staple fibers to uniformly distribute them into a fleece.

2. In an apparatus for the after-treatment of staple fiber, a washing and feeding device comprising an open-ended chamber which is in the form of a tapered'chute sloped downwardly with respect to the general direction of travel of the staple fiber, and a plurality of pressure spray means located inside the chamber at the top and bottom thereof and arranged to form the fibers into a uniformly distributed fleece and to advance them as the fleece is built up.

3. In an apparatus for the after-treatment of staple fiber, the combination with a pair of conveyor belts arranged in series with the first belt spaced above the succeeding belt at their adjacent ends, of a washing and feeding device connecting said adjacent ends of the conveyor belts, said washing and feeding device including an open-ended chute chamber tapered toward its outlet end and a plurality of pressure means inside said chamber at the topand bottom thereof arranged to form the fibers into a uniformly distributed fleece and to advance them as the fleece is built up.

ERWLEN BAUER.

AUG. LINDEL. HANS TEGETMEYER. 

